Read our privacy policy and privacy collection statement. Your details will be added to our mailing lists. Our mailing lists are maintained in locations outside Australia. The entities receiving your information from us in those countries may not be bound by Australian Privacy Laws

Enterprise education in action – $20 Boss

A new approach to developing enterprising skills is opening the eyes of young Australians to entrepreneurship, innovation and job creation. An evaluation of the first year of the national rollout of FYA’s $20 Boss program saw almost 100% of students involved developing a new appetite for entrepreneurial thinking with improved confidence and business literacy.

The in-school challenge, developed and delivered in partnership with NAB, provides students with $20 of start-up money to plan, budget and market their own business idea over a month.

“There were the types of students with no confidence, who spend all their time in the library, and they were running front of house and handling the money. Seeing them do customer service, it was amazing,” (Teacher 2015).

$20 Boss was offered to schools nationally for the first time in 2015 with more than 150 secondary schools and 6,000 students taking part. The initial evaluation report showed strong outcomes for those involved, including:

93% of students learnt they could start their own enterprise

92% of students said they felt they learnt how to make a profit

98% of teachers said students developed confidence

96% of teachers said students developed business literacy skills

The program is being offered to all Australian secondary schools in terms 2 and 3 this year, with more than 10,000 students already registered for 2016.

The finds of FYA’s latest report, The New Basics makes it clear that we need to use immersive experiences like $20 Boss to build transferrable enterprise skills in young people so they are equipped for jobs and careers of the future.

At FYA we are renewing our call for a national enterprise skills strategy, to ensure students across Australia are developing these skills inside and outside the classroom.

An enterprising skills education would:

Begin early in primary school and build consistently, year on year, throughout high school

Be provided in ways that young people want to learn: through experience, immersion and with peers

Provide accurate information and exposure about where future jobs will exist and the skills to craft and navigate multiple careers

Engage students, schools, industry and parents in co-designing opportunities in and outside the classroom

We can’t afford for any student to be left behind – we must make sure all our young people have the chance to build these skills and put them into practice throughout their secondary school years.